Schism
by palomino333
Summary: Pre-Repo! Sequel to Ill. The epidemic has ended, and Marni is truly alone, her friend now Gene Co's property, and her relationship with Rotti Largo cold. However, the return of a ghost from the past may change that.


It's been a while, but I'm finally posting the third of four Nathan/Marni one-shots. I'm not aiming for Marni to be portrayed as stupid in this, but I am aiming for her to be portrayed as naive. I'm not sure when I'll write the fourth. It depends on how bad my writer's block is. I've decided that after all four have been completed, I will delete them and then use the backups I have of them to Frankenstein them into a chapter fic, with each one-shot being one of four chapters. I'm not altering anything when it becomes a chapter fic. I'm only putting them together to not make my story archive seem so cluttered. I don't own Repo! The Genetic Opera or Frankenstein.

Marni let out a sigh, collapsing onto a chair in her apartment's living room. She should have been feeling tired. She should have been feeling happy. After all, she had just returned from her date with the now godlike Rotti Largo. He was the miracle worker who had cured the global epidemic. He was the kind and giving man who had bestowed a pair of beautiful eyes and a path to stardom to Marni's dear friend. He was also the abusive twit who had given her a black eye in college, and the possessive manager who held Blind Mag on a chain so tight, it was a wonder she could breathe.

If she was being honest with herself, Marni would say that she cared for another man much more, though reality had destroyed that relationship. Nathan had been sent to the surgical front lines as soon as he had graduated college. Marni, much like a foolish child, had found his new address and sent him messages, holding her breath for someone who wouldn't be coming back. Was she angry at him? No. She had known Nathan too well. He simply cared too much, placing the welfare of others before his pursuit of love. Was she sad? Very much so.

In the midst of this chaotic world of disease, she and Mag had somehow remained untouched by the Grim Reaper's hand and had lived together like sisters. Though they weren't truly family, they were the closest thing to it. Both of their relatives were lost in the epidemic, save for a few that didn't even know they existed. They often found themselves wondering why they had been left behind. But now even Mag was barely there anymore.

XXXXXX

When Gene Co had opened, people had flooded in to receive their cures. Marni and Mag had been completely shocked to hear that a Neanderthal like Rotti had become a savior, but when the news reported on the death toll's spontaneous downturn, Marni accepted the information as true. Mag was never quite convinced he was true savior, oftentimes reminding her friend that the true miracle workers were the doctors and nurses who had fought to keep each person's soul bound to Earth.

When the epidemic became simply a horrendous nightmare, Largo began to expand his organ empire, offering new and improved organs to those who desired them at a pauper's price, or so it seemed. Marni saw this as a chance to thank her loyal friend for remaining with her all this time by handing her the gift of sight, something she had desired ever since she was born. After a full year of coaxing, Mag finally agreed.

Much to Marni's surprise, her ex had acted the part of a true gentleman, shaking their hands warmly and listening sympathetically to Mag's plight. He made no mention of what had happened before, but he did greet them with, "My dear Marni and sweet Mag! It is good to see you after all these years!"

Once he had fully analyzed what the girls had told him, Rotti had told Marni to wait outside so he could settle a price with Mag.

After a half hour, Mag rejoined her in the lobby outside of Rotti's office and informed in a dry voice. "It's done. Largo promised me a pair of eyes if I became the voice of Gene Co."

"Mag, that's wonderful! You're finally gonna be a star!" Marni cried, clasping her hands together with a grin.

"Marni, you are too naive. I am now under Rotti's full control. Just now he said I have to move to Gene Co's main grounds, and I must go where and when they tell me. No questions about it." Mag replied in an angered tone.

Her friend's face fell. "Then why did you say yes? Can't we change it?"

The other shook her head gravely. "I'm afraid not. The ink is dry. I chose this payment because I knew it was what you would want for me."

Marni hugged her, feeling tears spill down her cheeks. "Mag, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"Marni, calm down. It was an honest mistake." came Mag's reassuring voice.

Suddenly, Marni jerked out, still crying. "You should hate me for this! Look what I've done to you! I've made you throw your whole life away!"

"Marni, wait!"

But she was already running down the hall, ignoring her best friend's pleas to come back.

XXXXXX

Not too long afterwards, a peculiar letter came in the mail. Within it, Marni found a ticket for a box seat at the city's opera house a week from then, when Mag would be making her debut. This came as a miracle to its receiver, who had been trying to make odds and ends meet to find a seat at the show. Once medical prices no longer were the monetary parasite, everything else had taken its place.

Along with the ticket came an invitation in sharp cursive writing, stating, "I would love for you join me as a friend at this event, Marni. I know how much it means to you. -Rotti."

Though she was wary of sitting with him, she couldn't pass up seeing Mag. Scraping together what nice fabrics she had managed to keep, Marni left for the opera that following week.

To her surprise, it was a pleasant night. Rotti wasn't overbearing, nor was he rudely talkative, though he did compliment Marni's attractive appearance and Mag's stellar performance. It seemed that he had grown up somewhat from college.

Much to her surprise, Marni was led by Largo to Mag's dressing room and he left the two for some catching up. Not only was this kind, but he had done it without being asked.

Still, awkwardness did linger between the two. Marni was finding Mag's gaze to be piercing her, although she knew that other woman had not meant it to seem that way.

Mag gave a sigh and hugged her best friend. "Does this seem like hate to you?"

"I'm sorry for saying that." Marni replied, looking away as she drew out, her eyes settling on a nearby bouquet of flowers.

Noticing Marni's wandering eye, Mag admitted, "Maybe there is some good in Rotti, especially toward you."

"Mag, you know that I'm done with him."

"Marni, please. You wouldn't have come if you hadn't still felt something for him."

She whipped around. "I came to watch you!"

Mag raised an eyebrow, then let it fall, finally relenting. "I cannot stop you from doing what you want, Marni," she paused to close her eyes, then continued, "Just promise me you won't let him hurt you again."

XXXXXX

And here she was, six months later. About once, maybe twice a week she saw Rotti, and tried to sort her emotions like a little schoolgirl all over again. She enjoyed his company, but couldn't find it within herself to say more so than that. Even when she kissed him, she couldn't find the magic, though she noticed Rotti had. And now he was waiting, patiently of course, for her to move in much like Mag had. Would life always feel this empty?

Thankfully, the press had been kept at bay. At Mag's first performance Largo had arranged for a decoy woman to follow him around whenever he was entering or leaving a place. The decoy, Cynthia, was constructed by cosmetic surgery to virtually become Marni's twin. Her employment was covering a heart transplant from a while back. Needless to say, Cynthia was quite jealous of the real lover, wishing Rotti's romance on herself instead, though this secret was never told.

The phone on a table next to the chair rang, making its owner jump. Marni snatched it up. "Hello?"

"Marni?! Thank God!"

Her breath caught in her throat, and she hopped up, the cordless phone gripped tightly in her hand, her hair flailing about wildly. "N-Nathan?! Is that you?!"

"Sadly, yes. Please, look out your window."

Her heart pounding in her chest, she complied, yanking back the cream-colored curtain to reveal the residential street lit in sharp yellows, oranges, and whites by the nearby streetlights and windows. Advertising aviation vehicles and television screens flew overhead. Below, a few cars were hunched together next to the sidewalk on both sides of the street, while one or two occasionally crept by. And on that sidewalk, clad in a black trench coat to block out the cold wind, was Nathan Wallace, his head tilted back to see her, a cell phone pressed to his ear.

"Marni..." he whispered breathlessly.

She gave out a squeal of happiness. "Hang on! I'll let you in!"

Barely placing the phone back in its place, she sped down the stairs to the front door, fumbling with the lock for a moment, then finally unlatching it. He was standing in the doorway a split second later.

Marni's heart broke as she stared at his face. He'd aged so much. Wrinkles were making his youthful appearance nonexistent, and gray hair framed the sides of his face. His eyes revealed a deep sadness behind his glasses. A pained expression was on his pale face.

"Please, forgive me for-" he began, but was cut off by her.

"Well, don't just stand there!" She grabbed the front of his coat and tugged him inside.

A few minutes later, the two were sitting on opposite sides of a little circular table in the apartment's minute kitchen. A coffee pot was currently brewing for them.

Marni leaned forward her elbows, a sad expression on her face. In the warm gold light of the kitchen, Nathan looked like a little lost child, his sickly appearance and tousled hair starkly contrasting the lively and orderly atmosphere. He had seemed to shrink to half his size when his coat, now hanging on a peg out in the stairwell, had been removed. With it, he had appeared large and intimidating, but without it, he looked rather scrawny and vulnerable. She was a little unnerved at the difference, but decided it was best not to comment on it.

"What has the epidemic done to you, Nathan?" she whispered mournfully to him.

Rather than answer her question, he sighed painfully. "I'm sorry for losing touch with you for so long."

"It's all right. You did what you had to do. Think of the people who would have died if you hadn't."

Marni jumped as he slammed his fist on the table, yelling, "What difference would it have made?!"

She shrank back as he panted hard, a haunted look painted on his face. Finally composing himself, he looked back up at her, the haunted look beginning to slide away. "I guess I owe you an explanation, don't I?"

Marni nodded solemnly and folded her hands, her mouth turned down in a frown. Though she could never be truly angry at her friend, she had so many unanswered questions being generated from him, and her patience was beginning to wear thin.

He took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. "The hospital was completely overrun. I swear to God that for every three patients we received, two died, and one of the two was DOA every time. I was been forced to work around the clock with little time to myself, and a large chunk of that was used for sleep attempts. It killed me that I couldn't talk to you or Mag, but I had no choice." He paused, letting out a sigh and giving an opportunity for Marni to digest what she had just heard.

He continued. "It was completely touch-and-go, even for the staff. Replacements and transfers were a scarcity, though they were needed like food and water. Some of the greatest co-workers I'd ever known would go home for a few hours, then return in a casket. It was completely lonely." It was if he had to pull the words out of his throat. Marni gripped his hands, tears falling down her face. He made no move to shake them off. She wasn't even sure that he was aware of her touch, for he seemed to be completely wrapped up in his memories.

"Out of the blue Gene Co showed up. The other HMO's fell to their knees, including the one that was controlling the hospital I worked at. I don't even want to remember the chaos that had broken out for that week right before Gene Co took over." he removed his hands from hers to place them over his eyes once more. When he lowered them, his expression was far from serene, but it wasn't even close to what it had been before.

"Suddenly, everything got back on track. People stopped dying and became healthy again practically overnight. However, we were all forced to meet deadlines for the hospital's massive paperwork, or we would've lost our jobs. There was so much of it that none of us could even think of something other than putting a pen on paper. When everything had finally died down, I knew it had been too long." He couldn't even bring himself to look at her.

"You could've called me! I wouldn't've been mad at you! Do I look mad now?!" Marni burst out, her yell punctuated by the coffee pot's bubbling. She ran over to turn it off and empty its contents into the two cups on the counter.

"Marni, it's been years. People change in that amount of time. You know that." he replied softly as he took a cup from her, thanking her for it.

"I suppose I do," she muttered, taking her seat again, carefully placing her own cup down.

When she looked back up at him, her expression was puzzled. "Then why did you just randomly show up here?"

"To be perfectly honest with you, it was my pride. If you were angry with me, I wanted to see you tell it to my face so I could take it like a man, rather than hide behind a phone or computer screen." he answered, his face emotionless.

"Now I get it." she whispered, sipping the warm beverage.

"And that's all I needed to say. It's up to you whether I stay or leave."

She raised an eyebrow teasingly. "I gave you a drink. Don't think I'm expecting you to walk off with one of my cups."

He chuckled. "No, you wouldn't like that very much."

His smile fell quickly, however. "I heard about Mag."

She frowned. "Don't remind me. It's my own damn fault all of that had happened."

"Marni, it was her ch-"

"No, it wasn't!" She slammed her cup down, causing the coffee within to splash out and land on the table, along with her hands. "Shit!"

Nathan rose to get paper towels from off the counter, but she waved him away.

As she cleaned up her mess, she informed him of the much bigger one she had caused. "And now I'm dating him! I feel like such a traitor!" Marni huffed at the end of her story.

"What?!" He yelled in surprise.

"Lovely, isn't it?" she muttered sarcastically, tossing the soiled towels out.

She found that her arms now had Nathan's hands clamped over them. "Let go of me!" she yelled, trying to jerk away.

"Are you insane?! Don't you remember what he did?!" he growled.

Marni gulped at the fire burning in his eyes, though she knew very well it was not directed at her.

"He hasn't harmed me since then, Nathan! He's a gentleman now!"

He snorted, releasing her. "I doubt that."

"At least he was around!" she snapped defensively.

He stared her down carefully. "Are you even considering dragging that in the equation now?"

"Well guess what, I am!" she yelled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Marni, people like Rotti never grow up." Nathan admonished sternly, taking a step toward her.

She held her ground. "Are you so worldly now?"

"I never called myself that. Need I remind you that he now has your best friend caged like an animal, considers the tireless workers of the medical world grimy underlings that should kiss the very ground he walks on, and does not even have the courage to tell the media that you are his actual lover, not that little whore who, try as she may, cannot even fall within the same category as you!" He named off each fact with growing anger, until he was practically screaming into her face. Luckily, he had had enough sense to take one step back beforehand.

Marni's lip began to quiver, but she got a hold of herself as he leaned against the counter, looking down at the floor.

After a pause, he whispered, "I'd told you that I would take matters into my own hands if he did anything vile to you again. That promise still stands today, even if you don't feel the same way towards me anymore."

"You really think that, Nathan?" Marni asked in a crushed voice, taking a step toward him, her hands clasped behind her back.

He continued to study the black and white tiled floor as he replied, "I'm hoping you can prove me wrong."

Her hand was on cheek. "I can if you give me a chance."

Nathan raised his head and turned it toward her.

Marni pressed their lips together gently, feeling his arms slowly wrap around her waist.

She drew out to look in his eyes, unguarded by his glasses. "I should be the one apologizing here."

He smiled. "I'll accept it, then."

Nathan pulled her back in for another kiss.

Marni preemptively drew out to let out a cry of surprise as she felt her feet leave the floor beneath her.

Wallace laughed nervously. "I guess I don't know my own strength."

She smiled sadly, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

Marni knew Nathan would fight for her at the drop of a hat, but if anything happened to him, she couldn't live with herself. And Rotti... She broke off her thoughts as she felt Nathan's hand gently stroking her hair. Warm as the touch felt, would it always be there? Or would he become horrendously tangled up in work, just as Mag had?

A tear formed her in eye. How could she deserve such kindness while she harbored good feelings toward the tormentor of her friends?

XXXXXX

"Dad, I hate you! GO AND DIE!"

Nathan felt his daughter's words like a crushing blow. He should've known that he couldn't keep his dark secret forever. Why hadn't manned up enough to tell her? After all, that was what he had done with Marni so many years ago!

Marni...Shilo...They were his twin girls, one dead, one still breathing.

The look of pure hate on Shilo's face tore at him twice as much because of its resemblance to Marni's. Both had now rejected his pleas for forgiveness, and it had been all his fault.

All that had remained of the weak man he had become was no more, rather it was merely a hollow shell. He would kill that man personally. He would let the monster within him free until all amends were made. Perhaps he would even die as this monster incarnate, but it didn't matter to him, not anymore.

The Repo Man trudged onward toward his final targets, his bloodthirsty knife at the ready, wishing that Nathan Wallace could physically be among them.

It was a pity that a wish could only go so far.


End file.
